WINFIELD - Crestwood Manor Apartments in Winfield, home to elderly and disabled residents, will be receiving a total renovation thanks to the Alabama Affordable Housing Association (AAHA).
The renovation is part of the housing association’s “Making Alabama Sweet Home Again” project.
This project is part of the housing association’s effort to either construct or rehabilitate housing structures in the state to provide more affordable housing to residents.
AAHA Executive Director Arrice Fraught and Crestwood Apartments owner David Morrow visited the apartments as part of the tour announcing the renovations throughout the state on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
Throughout the state, the project will create 1,249 jobs and renovate or build 1,105 homes for Alabamians.
According to Fraught, the apartments will be completely gutted and renovated to feature heating and cooling systems, updated floors and new appliances, as well as adding an exercise room and computer room to the complex for residential use.
“They’re treating this as if they were building a brand-new apartment complex,” said Fraught.
According to the press release, the work to renovate the 47 housing units in the apartment complex will begin after a required environmental review.
The renovation in Winfield is expected to cost approximately $6.6 million and provide 53 jobs during the process.
During the tour stop at Crestwood, which following the renovation will be renamed Windwood Apartments, Fraught estimated that the process of transforming the apartment complex would take between nine months to one year to complete.
During this time, Fraught said that residents would be relocated in order to perform the work. Movers will be assigned to move resident’s possessions and make the transition as easy as possible, she insisted.
Crestwood Apartments site manager Amber Terrell voiced her extreme excitement for the project at the tour stop.
“Our residents have a really hard time with their carpets. They can’t clean them or take care of them very well, as many are elderly or in wheelchairs,” said Terrell.
Terrell said she was overjoyed for the project to be completed, noting that residents would likely be more comfortable in the new quarters.
Fraught said that the computer room being added to the complex could help the elderly and disabled residents connect with the modern age, while learning to use technology more efficiently.
She recommended that the complex have volunteers from local high schools or Bevill State Community College come and demonstrate how to use the computer, for either a service project or volunteer hours.
“That would help everyone involved,” said Fraught.
AAHA’s exective director indicated that the addition of both the computer room and the exercise room could improve the residents’ quality of life.
The project was made possible, according to the press release, by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed last year.
House of Rep.-elect Tracy Estes attended the tour-stop ceremony, commenting on the need for the updated living spaces for the elderly residents.